Avatar: Journey to Distorted Reality
by Sierra.BN312
Summary: Imagine the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender where Aang and his friends failed to save the world, Ozai is defeated and dead, but Azula has ascended to the throne. She has vowed to conqueror the world, and eliminate Team Avatar, watch as Aang faces the reality that he may not be able to save the world. The all-new prequel to a new twist on Orgo's Distorted Reality.
1. A Death in the Family

**Author's Note:**

_**Hello everybody, and this will be part of my first fanfic of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar: Journey to Distorted Reality is a set of prologues set during Book 3: Fire of the Canonical Reality of Avatar, however they're slightly altered for setting up Distorted Reality. The original fanfiction story is by Orgo, you can read it here: **_

_********__ s/3952155/1/Distorted-Reality_.

_**The original author has allowed anyone to use his Distorted Universe as he stated at the end of the Distorted Reality Summary chapter here:**_

**_ s/3952155/35/Distorted-Reality._**

_**I intend to rewrite and give it a full ending (although I don't know how long it'll be before I finish it), but for now I will be focusing on the prequel and building Aang into the person that he is in the core story, so sit back and enjoy the journey.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or anything associated with it, nor do I own Avatar: Distorted Reality or anything associated with it as well.**_

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Prologue 1 – A Death in the Family

**_The following takes place sometime before the Day of Black Sun, but after Zuko discovers his heritage with Avatar Roku._**

"Get up prisoner!"

Iroh turned his head around slightly to see who it was, but barely caught a glance and turned his head back to face the wall.

"I said get up prisoner!"

A whip of fire came from one of the guards and came through the cell and cracked at his back. His clothes and skin seared but he showed no reaction to it. The guard pulled his hand back again

"What did I just sa-". He was abruptly interrupted when a hand grabbed his, he looked back to see who it was to his surprise.

"That won't work. Will it dear brother?" The man let the guards hand go, as the guard turned around and began to speak.

"My Lord, I apologize for not arriving with the traitor yet." The guard went to his knees and bowed deeply to Fire Lord Ozai.

"Don't worry, he will do as I say, as long as he wants the poor boy alive, and unharmed." Iroh bent his head down slightly and shed a tear, realizing at this point that his brother had no intention to let Zuko live to one day take the throne, but soon wiped it away as he brought his hair out of his face. He rose and faced the wall as his cell was unlocked, as he stepped out, he began to wonder what was about to become of him, but he had a rather good idea. Metal clamped around his wrists and ankles with heavy chains linking them together.

There were ten guards in total escorting them further down into the prison, two of the guards in front of the group wore the standard prison guard uniform leading them through the passage ways, while the other were Imperial Firebenders; the most elite benders within the Fire Nation handpicked by the royal family to serve as their bodyguards and have sworn their absolute loyalty and devotion to their leader, to their dying breath.

They soon arrived at the bottom the prison into a dimly lit circular room, there lye a square stone pedestal no taller than about maybe 2-3 feet tall, and a man with blackened hood over his head with slits where his eyes and mouth once were; he was sharpening a long sword with a rock.

The Imperial Firebenders all took a circular position around the pedestal, Iroh realized that he would not be able to free Ba Sing Se, as he had envisioned as a boy. The prison guards grabbed Iroh by his arms and dragged him to the pillar and forced him down on his knees. The Fire Lord stood in front of him while the executioner off to the side of the pedestal with sword in hand and ready to obey the command soon to come. The guards forced Iroh to place his neck out over the stone slab. They stood behind him in case he would try to attack their lord.

"I hereby sentence you to death for crimes of treachery and desertion against the Fire Nation and the royal family. But I am a merciful lord, and shall grant you a few last words to say beforehand. What do you have to say for yourself?" As he said with a confident but malicious smile.

There was but a small moment of silence before the Fire Lord gave the executioner a wave to signal to go through with it, he soon brought the sword up high. But before he did, Iroh let out a small and soft sentence, not loud enough to be heard throughout the room, but loud enough for his brother to hear.

"You will fail."

The Fire Lord's expression changed from confident to enragement with those words, as the sword was brought down.

"Leave him to rot down here, this traitor does not deserve a burial or a pyre. This shall be but a secret amongst us, if I hear a word of this breathed outside this room, then you will endure the same fate."

They all replied with a bow to their lord, and lined up to escort their lord back to the palace. The Fire Lord walked towards the door, but then snapped and turned around.

"We shall see brother, we shall see." He turned back to the exit as the guards eliminated the flames within the room and closed the door.

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Hours passed by at the prison when the Fire Lord left with his guard, a messenger hawk flew towards one of the guards patrolling the exterior of the capital prison, and took it to the warden. It said that they would be receiving a new prisoner that was captured several weeks ago by Princess Azula during her campaign in the Earth Kingdom, she was the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors and that her name was Suki.

A group arrived with four soldiers escorting her with a raggedy cloth bag over her head, a standard Fire Nation prisoner garb, and chains on her wrists and ankles linked together, pulled by the soldiers should she try to refuse to move or make an escape attempt. The prison guards approached her with caution and took over the reins of escorting her to her cell. They pulled the bag off her head and unlocked her shackles before forcing her into the cell.

"Hey kid, you should consider yourself lucky." The guard said with a sarcastic and playful tone. "Why?" she responded in a defiant however cautious and curious all at the same time. "You're living in the cell that used to house the once great General Iroh, the Dragon of the West!" He let out a sadistic and loud laugh as he stood at the door opening.

Suki widened her eyes with shock, but she felt dumbfounded. She knew who the Dragon of the West was, the man who broke through Ba Sing Se's outer wall and then laid siege to it for 600 days, only to retreat and admit defeat after she heard he lost his son in the battle. She thought to herself 'Why was the Fire Lord's brother in here?', maybe it was someone else?

"Wait. What do you mean 'used to' why was General Iroh in prison?"

"Exactly, 'used to'. He decided to side with the enemy and turned traitor back in Ba Sing Se, he used to be the pride of the Fire Nation, but now? Well, just use your imagination." The guard served Suki her food, and slammed the door shut. She was still confused on the matter but decided to put the thought in the back of her mind, all she needed to concentrate on now is just to survive and wait. Wait in the hopes that someone will come for her.

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_**So what did you guys think? It's shorter than what I originally expected, but it's still just the first prologue. I hoped you guys enjoyed it as I plan to write at least eight in total. For some reason the hyperlink's aren't working with me properly, but I'll figure it out eventually.**_

_**But anyway, the second prologue will be coming up soon, possibly within the next few days (hopefully before the weekend hits), I'm currently juggling college, work, and other things right now, but I will finish the prologues for sure.**_


	2. The Day of Black Sun: The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

_**Hello everyone and thank you guys for following this fanfic. I probably would've updated this yesterday, but I got distracted by Lighting Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, I think it's a pretty good game. But anyway, read and enjoy, hope ya'll like it.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender nor do I own the original Distorted Reality piece.**_

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"Thank you all for being so brave and so strong. I'm gonna make this up to you. I will come back for you, I promise." Aang was determined to make good on his promise, he failed to protect his friends back in Ba Sing Se, and he failed to his friends again today, 'I will never fail again' he said to himself in his own thoughts. The team turned to leave on Appa, and soon takes off, as the team looks back sadly at those remaining, hoping that they will be free once this war is brought to an end.

A war airship began to circle back around towards the airfield from where it rose into the sky, but it caught sight of the bison. "Princess, should we follow them?" the captain awaited her response. "No, they're too fast, but it doesn't matter anyway, they'll be back." She grew a confident, yet evil grin, she had something in mind for the remaining filthy invaders. "Take the rest of the filth below to the execution grounds. They will pay dearly for the deaths of our own today."

"Of course princess."

Hakoda and the rest of the men and women of the invasion force began to disarm themselves and prepare, should the worst come.

Azula's war airship descended down to where the invaders. Ropes dropped down from the extension platforms onboard with several firebenders dropping with them including the Princess. "It's funny how you all thought that you could actually come here and try and defeat us, it's pathetic really." Azula was in her usual sadistic demeanor.

"We surrender and we'll cooperate, we don't want to do anything to jeopardize our lives, but if you expect us to tell you where the Avatar is heading, then you're out of luck. We don't know where he's going." Hakoda was trying to buy them their lives, but he wasn't sure how it would work out with the last part, it was a deadly gamble.

"Oh, don't worry about the Avatar and his little group. I'll find out eventually where his new little hiding spot is. But enough about him, you all will be treated as capital offenders and will be punished as such: you're all sentenced to death!" She was sadistic as usual, giving them a false hope that they might make out of the battle alive, and crushing all together with just a few words.

"I know a place we can law low for a while, the Western Air Temple." Aang had a feeling that the Fire Nation already knew where they were going, but it was the only place he could think of that the Fire Nation didn't have a strong presence.

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Zuko ran faster than his heart could beat towards the capital prison. After defying his father and becoming a traitor, he knew that there wouldn't be much time left before word got out, as he approached the prison gates several of the guards where quite ready for a prison break during the invasion, but they weren't prepared for the former prince to betray them. Zuko unsheathed his swords as he began to subdue the guards as the clashed with him inside the prison. Once he had dealt with most of the guards he continued onwards to free his uncle.

Suki was keeping her body in shape while she waited for the opportune moment to escape, but it was easier said than done. She heard several quick footsteps outside her cell room, she stopped practicing and squeezed against the bars hoping to hear more of what was going on. The guards where all yelling at each other giving and taking orders from the higher up officers about stopping some intruder and locking down the prison.

She eventually heard was some sort of fighting going on outside and then suddenly, there was silence; she let out a sigh of disappointment and dipped her down, but she soon heard a pair of footsteps running towards her, when the door burst open, she expected to see a friend, but was surprised to see whom it truly was.

"Uncle!" Zuko kicked the door open with ease due to the adrenaline rushing through his body, as he gazed into the dimly lit room, he saw not his uncle, but rather a young girl in his stead. "Who are you?! Where's my uncle?!"

Suki recognized the voice and she could make out the face of the boy: Zuko. The firebender that nearly burned her home down when the Avatar was visiting. "You're the one who burned down my village" She was in anger and disgust at the sight of him.

"What? No I didn't!" Zuko was struck with curiosity and annoyed at this girl's accusation.

"Kyoshi Island. You tried to burn down my village to get to the Avatar. And my name is Suki, if you should know." Her voice was calmer and more collected

A flashback played within his mind of the day he landed on Kyoshi, he remembered the female warriors that came to its defense. It was difficult to recognize her without the face paint and warrior's garb donned. "I'm sorry for burning down your village, but please where's my uncle? We don't have much time! We have to leave now!" He burned the cell lock on her cage, as Suki stepped out of the cell door and into the hallway, she saw Zuko interrogating one of the guards that was still conscious.

"Where is my uncle?! Where is he?!" He held his broadsword to the guard's throat close and hard enough, just to break the skin to see some blood dripping off to the side of his neck, but left enough pressure to let him talk properly.

"They took him down below to the bottom of the prison, but they never came back up with him." The fear of death were in his widened eyes as he stared at the enraged prince.

Zuko threw the guard to the ground and sheathed his broadsword. He ran to the down the staircase to the bottom with Suki behind, yelling something to him. He could hear her words, but chose to ignore them. He finally reached the door to the bottom of the prison, and opened the door with a look of scarceness on his face. He saw the room and his expression changed to sadness and despair as tears began to gush from his eyes. He dropped down as if he lost all feeling within his legs, and let out a cry of pain and disbelief at the sight.

"Noooooooo!"

Suki finally reached Zuko down below and slowly walked towards him. His back was still turned to her as he was in a near fetal position. She finally gazed at what had made this boy, whom she once thought, was cold, cruel, and without mercy, into someone who had their heart ripped from them; he had humanity, and he had finally shown it to her in this tragic form.

"Zuko! We need to go now!" Suki pulled him up to stand ready to run, she knew it wouldn't be long before an alarm of some kind was sent out, if there wasn't one already. "Come on!" Zuko, managed to compose himself if not for a second to backtrack to the exit with Suki behind him. He could be barely keep his face straight shifting from anger and rage, to sadness and despair, almost to the point where they blurred together.

* * *

"I managed to steal one of the war balloons, from an air field before I got here!" Zuko and Suki finally made it outside past the courtyard and boarded the war balloon. As they made they rose towards the sky, Suki glanced at Zuko, the expression of anger and sadness faded from his face; she really couldn't tell now what he was feeling. "Zuko..? Are you gonna be okay?" She stared waiting for a response from the prince, there was a slight pause before he finally gave an answer. "I've lost my mother, and now my uncle to this war. I'm going to join the Avatar and teach him firebending, you're welcome to join me, and I think a friendly face would help them after today." Suki wasn't quite sure what he had meant. "What do you mean 'after toady'?"

"The Avatar led an invasion today during a solar eclipse to stop the war before Sozin's Comet came, but my sister knew they were still going to try and go through with it, even after Ba Sing Se was captured. So she plotted every possible way that they might succeed, and she made plans to counter everything they could try. And they lost. By now the Avatar's long gone, and the rest of the invasion force is probably being led to a prison."

Suki let out a sigh of disappointment, she hoped that Aang and his friends could've ended the war soon. But it looked like it would take longer than she thought. "So, where do you think Aang went to?"

"The Western Air Temple is the safest place for them right now."

"How do you know?" Suki added with a profound curiosity.

"It's not like the other temples, it's located on the bottom side of cliffhanger overlooking a ravine, and it's the perfect place to hide from airships, they wouldn't think to look for an air temple in a canyon." Zuko knew that this would be the only option the Avatar had, seeing as how the other air temple locations were still known by the Fire Nation, the Western Air Temple's location was actually quite difficult to locate when Fir Lord Sozin began his hunt for him. After a hundred years of the air nomad genocide, the location was lost to many people, only the Fire Sages knew of its location, so having the navy on their backs wouldn't be a problem, convincing them that he had changed would prove to be one.

As they made their way over the palace city, they saw the rest of the invasion force being led to an open field surrounded by walls and guards, Zuko realized what was about to transpire, and made haste to get the balloon moving faster. Suki saw what was happening down below, "Hey why are they being taken to an open field? That doesn't seem like much of a prison to me."

Zuko sensed the worry in her voice. He knew that she wouldn't like the answer, and lying to her wouldn't be an appropriate first step in gaining her trust. "They're being led to the executions fields."

Suki was shocked and speechless, she believed that they would've been sent to separate prisons around the country, it was the honorable thing to do, knowing that the Fire Nation holds honor in high regard. But after seeing what happened to Iroh, she wasn't so sure honor mattered to them in this war anymore. All that mattered to her now, was helping Aang end this war, after today, it would only become harder and harder as the days rolled by. They wouldn't be able to keep the fate of the invasion force from her friends, "Zuko we need to tell them what we saw on the way over there, they need to know, they'll find out eventually. I'd rather tell them sooner rather than later, and we need to be the ones to tell them."

Zuko knew that the subject would come up eventually, _if_ they accepted him. He nodded in response, and it was soon silence almost all the way to the Air Temple.

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_**I had to think on this chapter since it primarily focused on Zuko and Suki, and their perceptions of each other (primarily Suki, since she doesn't like Zuko for burning down her village; plus I imagine that I made them a little out of character for some of these guys, if I was then I will work harder to try and nail them correctly). But the next chapter will probably be a little shorter than the first two, and after that, the rest of the chapters are most likely going to be very long, so stay tuned for the next update.**_


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